


All in the Form

by Setkia



Series: All in the Grip [2]
Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Character Study, Developing Relationship, F/M, Maka's POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-14 05:23:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15381591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Setkia/pseuds/Setkia
Summary: She can tell how he's feeling just from the way he moves.





	All in the Form

A common misconception about the two of them is that they were the perfect team from the start. They were not.

When she first meets him and he gives her that shark-tooth grin, she shakes his hand so tightly, she's sure that his bones crack. He has a calm, cool expression on his face, but she can feel the way his body tenses for a  moment in surprise and slight shock.

When she wields him for the first time she can admit she doesn't try to synchronize with him. She can feel the strain he's going through, trying to match her. Being a weapon means he can't see her soul, becoming compatible is not as easy as it seems. But he does it. She barely notices what he's doing but she can tell from how stiff and cold he is in her hand, he's focusing on something very hard that may have nothing to do at all with the monster they're fighting.

In that split second before her grip loosens and he falls, clattering to the ground, she can tell he's trying to hold on, as though through some kind of magic connection, his will power will keep the two of them together and they'll make it though the fight without her being defenceless. It happens anyway.

He runs to her the moment she's prepared herself to die. He sprints like a madman to get to her before the Kishin and she can see it in the way he moves, the momentum he’s pushing himself through despite being bruised (she learns that signs of rough handling remain when weapons transform back, and it hits her how hard she's been on him) and without even reading his soul she knows exactly how he feels.

_Desperate._

Their hands connect and he transforms and she can feel it, the moment it happens.

_Relief._

She’s more careful now. Can’t let him fall, not after seeing how her harsh treatment dulls his blade. She doesn’t trust men, she _can’t_ trust men because of Papa, but she has to try, if for no other reason than so they can survive this fight.

She thanks him and though she’s mumbling he picks up on it and gives her a grin and suddenly her eyes are pried open and she sees it. He’s not mad at her, that smirk on his face isn’t mean, it’s not even teasing. He’s not even upset that she dropped him, he’s just overjoyed that she’s still alive and even if his words are simple and cool, she sees the way his shoulders sag in relief.

When she hits him for it, he complains but his body language says he’s happy.

As they fight harder Kishin, she realizes this partnership can’t go on if she keeps putting all the strain on him. He’s going to tire himself out and she doesn’t know how many more close-calls they can have before they run out of luck, so she tries to match him.

It’s hard. He’s so different from him, and it feels weird, but she can feel him, can tell the moment they’re synchronized and he’s had some weight lifted off her shoulders. She knows the moment he realizes that she’s matched him and her weapon sings in joy.

She starts to talk to him in weapon form, now that they can sync themselves together better they’re able to communicate more, and it makes fighting with him a lot more _fun_ to her surprise.

She’s always considered it her duty to fight, being someone who works for Death himself she doesn’t see it as something she does because she wants to, it’s an honour that’s been thrust upon her. Now when she fights with him, she’s having fun. She likes it. He’s fun to be around. He’s a … friend? And from the way he feels beneath her fingers, the way the metal almost seems to hum, she realizes he’s thought of her that way for a while now.

When she spars against Black*Star, she can’t help but notice how he’s ten times more alert than usual. Almost like he’s showing off, like he’s comparing himself to Tsubaki and proving that he’s better. It’s nothing personal, he’s showing Black*Star how he and she don’t even have to think when they fight together, they just understand each other. He’s bragging that she handles him with ease, that he’s got the better Meister, that they’re the better duo.

Almost like he wants her to proud of him.

She is. Proud of him. Always.

When she touches him in weapon form after he’s been used by Lord Death, there’s a warmth that spreads through her chest, as though he’s telling her he’s back, he’s home. She won’t tell him, but when she holds him after Lord Death, it feels like coming home too.

When he gets aggressive around others, the metal heats up. When others ask him to be their partner, she doesn’t have to worry because she knows that he likes her, enjoys being hers. And when others ask her to be their Meister, he won’t calm down for days, he’ll be hot to the touch, almost as if daring anyone else to use him, daring anyone to pull them apart, and his performance improves drastically, as if daring her to replace him.

Is that his way of being jealous?

He keeps himself in perfect shape. She can feel it, he makes sure his blade never dulls, makes sure he’s well polished.

She can read his every emotion from the way he moves, from the way he feels.

If he ever slips from her grip nowadays (which almost never happens since she’s iron tight on him, and she’s reminded of how far they’ve come), it’s because he’s anxious. He’s nervous. Before she picks him back up she can feel it, the split second when he worries she won’t reach out for him. He’s worried he’s too much for her to handle.

Eventually though, they sort it out and happens once in a blue moon and his form is perfect and he works hard and he slaves of it every day, making sure he’s always in perfect condition.

She wonders if he knows the depth of her feelings.

He hid himself a little at the beginning, afraid he would scare her because to be fair, she made it very clear what she thought of men when they started, but now he hides some parts of himself in darkness so he won’t lose her. She’s uncovered every dusty secret and has come to embrace it wholly. All the dark corners of his mind that he tries to hide from her, his hesitance and the strength of his adoration for her are all encompassing as she feels them beneath her fingertips.

She hopes he knows.

That she loves him. All of him.

Because she can tell from the way he moves for her that he loves her, elegant and graceful, moving just the way she wants before she realizes she wants it, like he’s showing how much he knows her, that he can understand her and he’s ready to do anything for her, and he’s scared that she won’t do the same for him.

So when they get together and he still worries, she reassures him in the only way she can. She tightens her grip on him, making sure he’ll never slip from her fingers again, making sure he has no reason to doubt her again.

It takes a while but he gets around to it and one day, without a word being exchanged, she knows that it’s gotten through to him.


End file.
